Malaysian Government: Bring Back Tax Exemptions For Electric Cars

This is a petition to the Malaysian Government to re-introduce the 100% import and excise duties exemption for Malaysians to purchase electric vehicles (EV).

Let’s face it, the mode of transport we own and use today is unquestionably the highest contributor of air pollution that adversely effects our health and environment.

Contrary to popular belief, the electric car is not a new technology. The first known electric car was built in 1837 while a version with a rechargeable battery appeared in 1859. Why did the electric car fail to take off?

It began with Henry Ford’s highly affordable Ford Model T that sold for US$825 in 1908 (US$21,650 today) and the discovery of highly subsidized oil in the United States that saw the rise of the petrol car and the fall of the electric car.

Alas, an EV is not a Ford Model T when comparing prices, cross subsidy, and even history of development, and the lack of tax incentives have surely limited its growth in Malaysia. However, it is compellingly cheaper to charge an EV with electricity such as the Nissan Leaf at RM7 for every 100 km distance traveled, compared to RM22 for a petrol car. Best part is that I can charge the Leaf in the convenience of my own home when I am sleeping at night.

Tax exemption for hybrids and EVs introduced in 2011 were removed in 2014, with the exception that only locally assembled hybrids and EVs will receive tax incentives.

The irony of this policy is that EVs today have to be imported because with our current demand, there is no reason to locally assemble an electric car which has no engine and transmission parts. But yet the Government is giving the Mercedes S400 hybrid which normally cost RM880,000, a RM300,000 tax saving for small group of rich people to buy them.

With tax exemption for the EVs:

a RM200,000 Renault Zoe today could become only RM130,000;

a RM190,000 Nissan Leaf could become RM150,000;

and a RM550,000 Tesla Model S could become RM350,000.

The tax incentives introduced by the Government in 2011 resulted in a massive growth of hybrid car sales in Malaysia, soaring to 8,403 units in 2011 and almost doubling to 15,355 units in 2012. Why stop a policy that has such a profound impact towards nation building and meeting our national environmental objectives by year 2020?

If you are concerned about clean air and our health, electric cars and putting Malaysia on a path that removes the environmental and economic implications of fossil fuels – go ahead and sign it!

Please help me by signing this petition and lets work together to get 100,000 signatures for this cause.